Who's the next Alice?
by dimidium draco
Summary: Alice in Wonderland was never true. The real story was much more violent. The White Rabbit he used to belong to a girl named Alice, but she abandoned him. The Rabbit drove himself insane, determined to kill anyone named Alice. More details inside.
1. Meet the White Rabbit

Yes, I based this off the "Alice of Human Sacrifice" song from hatsune miku (I think it's called) but it it isn't really a cross over...Anyway, I dont know how long this will go on for, but I know I need at least three reviews for each chapter before I come out with another ( Except for chapter 2, which I've already posted.) anyway, here is a link to the youtube vid - .com/watch?v=sR6g0auvcJs (ENJOI!)

:-*-:

Once upon a time in a faraway land, known as "Wonderland,"

A white rabbit was bought from a local toy shop by a young girl named Alice.

Alice loved this rabbit with all her heart,

But weep, for it could not last.

Alice grew older over time and

Her Mother determined that white rabbits were not

Appropriate accessories for a young lady to be carrying,

So in the dead of night she stole the rabbit away to the attic.

The white rabbit was left abandoned,

And there he stayed in the years to come.

Alice slowly forgot all the enjoyable times she had spent with the white rabbit.

She eventually married and moved out of the house

Where the white rabbit sat, forgotten.

Many, years passed and the white rabbit was

Left in the attic, hoping his precious Alice would come back and play with him once more.

Time continued, and one lonely day the

White Rabbit finally snapped.

He began to look at the world through a twisted veil,

Believing Alice was the cause of his suffering,

He left the attic and began to roam Wonderland,

Cursing anyone who held the name "Alice".

One day the White Rabbit stumbled upon the exit out of Wonderland.

Once he passed through he found himself

In a rabbit hole at the base of a tree in a world completely different from his own.

A girl with red hair sat at the base of the old oak tree, reading a book.

"Alyss, please come in, it's nearly supper," a voice called from over the fields.

"Coming Mother," Alyss called back

She stood up to leave and never noticed the hostile eyes

That glared at her from the hole, his thoughts turning to vengeance

Once again.

**_Alice_**…


	2. Alyss, meet Rabbit, Rabbit, meet Alice

"Alyss, please come in, it's nearly supper,"

"Coming Mother," Alyss called back as she stood up and brushed herself off. Suddenly she felt a strange sensation, like someone was watching her. Ridiculous, She thought, shaking her head, I'm out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest neighbor is nearly five miles away. She laughed, easily brushing away her feeling of suspicion.

"Alyss!" A voice echoed over the fields.

"Coming!" Alyss shouted, her short amber hair brushing her chin as she began to walk briskly back to her house.

Alyss sat at the dining table picking at her dinner. Her family was conversing easily; the sense on companionship was obvious in the room. However, Alyss was silent.

"Is something the matter, Alyss?" Her mother asked when she noticed Alyss's reluctance to talk.

"Why did we have to move, Mother?"

Mother sighed, "Alyss, we already discussed this. Your grandparents live here and they're getting old, so your father and I decided to move out here to help them with the harvest and such,"

"I didn't need to move," Alyss argued, "I could have moved in with one of my friends. Sarah and Melanie even offered for me to live with them until the end of the year so I could graduate and get a job!"

"We didn't want the family to split up. That's why!" Mother said, beginning to lose her temper.

"I could've stayed in touch! I would have graduated from Pine Mountain High in less than four months! But no! I had to move out here with the rest of you crazy people!" Alyss was shouting now.

The rest of the table had gone silent. Her mother was in a barely concealed rage. Her father was shaking his head slightly, warning Alyss not to go any farther. Her brother Alex was staring at Alyss, admiration plain on his features. Her grandparents looked slightly hurt that Alyss would choose her friends over her family.

Alyss didn't care. She had been ripped away from her old life, and she hadn't had a say in it. She was beyond out of control. "I hate you all. My life would be so much better if you all disappeared!" she screamed.

"Alyss," her mother whispered forcefully, "Go to your room,"

Alyss stood up, knocking over her chair, and stormed away from the table. She stomped up the stairs and slapped her door shut with such force that the walls trembled. Once she was alone, however, she flung herself on to her bed and cried. Her sobs were muffled by the pillow, so no one came to check on her.

After some time Alyss fell deep into the world of dreams, where someone, or rather, something was stalking her.

:-*-:

_Alyss is walking through the fields behind the house. She brushes the tops of the wheat stalks with her fingertips, but she is fuming._

Why did my mother have to move us all out here? _Alyss thinks angrily._ I never had a choice in the matter, and I should of!

"Yes, you should have,"_ a voice from behind Alyss says. Alyss calmly turns around. A white rabbit is sitting in the middle of the field, staring at Alyss with an inquisitive expression. Alyss did the sensible thing to do when dreaming of a talking rabbit. She crouched down and spoke back to it._

"Are you the one who spoke to me?"_ Alyss smiles dreamily._

_The rabbit grins back._ "Why, yes I am. Do you mind my speaking?"

"No, not at all Mister, umm, uh…"

"White Rabbit, at your service. But please, call me Mr. Rabbit. And you are—

"Alyss!

_The Rabbit laughed._ "What a charming name!"

"Well then Mr. Rabbit, what are you doing in my backyard?" _Alice says. There was nothing strange in her mind about a talking rabbit. It was only a dream after all._

"I'm looking for someone to come with me to Wonderland." _The rabbit grins._ "I've been quite lonely you see, and I was hoping to find a companion".

"Oh you poor thing," _Alyss despairs_, "'I'd love to come with you!"

"That'd be great! Are you ready to go now? I'm afraid we're running a bit late,"_ the rabbit says as he glances at his pocket watch._

"Yeah, let's go now,"

_The White Rabbit begins to hop away and Alyss follows. Before long she is standing at the base of the old oak tree. As she glances around she feels that odd sensation again. I wonder where it's coming from. We have no neighbors close enough to watch me here. Alyss frowns, a sense of discord entering her mind_. The only one who could be watching me is Mr. Rabbit.

"Alyss, please come along."_ He was standing at the edge of a large rabbit hole, cleverly concealed beneath the twisting roots of the oak._

_Alyss stared, suspicious. She could have sworn the hole was not there a moment ago, but what choice did she have but to follow the rabbit. After all, it's merely a dream. She thought to herself._

"Well, come on then," _the Rabbit said right before he jumped into the hole. Alyss dashed over and looked down. It was black as pitch, and seemed to go on forever._

"I have nothing to fear," _Alyss said to herself,_ "I'll wake up soon anyways." _Alyss takes a deep breath and jumps in to the black abyss._

_:-*-:_

Alyss' eyes snapped open and she gasped. She wasn't in the penetrating black of the rabbit hole; she was lying on her bed, still in her house.

_What a strange dream_, Alyss thought. It wasn't long before she heard a pounding on the door.

"Alyss, get out of bed this instant!" her mother yelled through the door. "It's breakfast! You've been asleep for far too long!"

Alyss stayed silent. She was not in the mood to talk with her mother.

"Alyss! Answer me this instant! Unlock this door!" Her mother continued to yell until she realized that Alyss wasn't responding. "You better be down soon, Alyss," she sighed

Alyss heard her mother walk away. _I really don't want to go down, but I can't stop thinking 'bout that dream,_ Alyss thought and pondered what she should do and finally she gave up. _It's not important._

Alyss got out of bed and pulled on her dress, slipped into her stockings and shoes, then walked out the door. She slid down the banister to the next landing, but decided not to eat breakfast with her family. Instead, Alyss snuck into the library and retrieved a book to read outside.

Alyss dashed out of the house like a cat fleeing from water, and she didn't stop until she had reached the oak. Once Alyss arrived, she plopped down on a root to catch her breath.

"I... Need to... Rest... For... A moment." Alyss huffed. As she caught her breath, her thoughts strayed back to the dream.

_There's no way_, Alyss thought as her eyes scanned the roots of the tree. _There's no way that dream could have been re— _As Alyss looked, she spotted a hole cleverly concealed by the roots.

"That's not possible…" Alyss said softly as she stood up to examine the hole. It was an exact replica of her dream, down to the grass roots that stuck out from the walls. Alyss knelt down to see if the bottom was in sight. The bottom of the hole was still clear as smoke. So Alyss leaned a tiny bit over the hole, but it not enough to lose her balance.

"Still can't see," Alyss grunted. Abruptly, Alyss felt uneasy, as if someone was watching her . Alyss began to turn, but then was roughly pushed from behind. Her knee slipped on the smooth grass near the edge of the hole, and Alyss began to fall into the blackness.

"No," Alyss gasped as she fell like a stone. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear as the shadows swallowed her whole.


	3. Alyss Drabble

I'm so Sorry! I haven't updated really, but I have good reason! Writer's block! (Not-so-good reason) and I had a fictional story due in my Creative Writing class, and since I didn't really want to start a completely new story with everything I'm working on for the FanFiction and FictionPress websites, I decided to "finish" the beginning of this story. This is NOT a part of the "Who is the Next Alice" story, it's just a little drabble for what could've happened to Alyss. It follows the original "Alyss" story line up until this point, so I'm going to overlap it a bit with the previous chapter. Again, this is NOT a part of the "Who is the Next Alice" story, it's just a little drabble for what could've happened to Alyss had I wanted to cut the story off there.

On to the good news, I have overcome my writer's block and have began to write the next part of Alyss's story. The ABSOLUTE latest I will have it up is May 5th, but since I'm almost done it shouldbe up this weekend.

Also, I've finished planning Alyss's story and begun planning the next Alice, so updates should be quicker now. Special thanks to tradgedymaster01 for reviewing!

:-*-:

Alyss dashed out of the house like a cat fleeing from water, and she didn't stop until she had reachedthe oak. Once Alyss arrived, she plopped down on a root to catch her breath.

"I... Need to... Rest... For... A moment." Alyss huffed. As she caught her breath, her thoughts strayed back to the dream.

_There's no way_, Alyss thought as her eyes scanned the roots of the tree. _There's no way that dream could have been re— _As Alyss looked, she spotted a hole cleverly concealed by the roots.

"That's not possible…" Alyss said softly as she stood up to examine the hole. It was an exact replica of her dream, down to the grass roots that stuck out from the dirt walls. Alyss knelt down to see if the bottom was in sight. The bottom of the hole was still clear as smoke. So Alyss leaned a tiny bit over the hole, but not enough to lose her balance.

"Still can't see," Alyss grunted. Abruptly, Alyss felt uneasy, as if someone was watching her . Alyss began to turn, but then was roughly pushed from behind. Her knee slipped on the smooth grass near the edge of the hole, and Alyss began to fall into the blackness.

"No," Alyss gasped as she fell like a stone. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear as the shadows swallowed her whole.

:-*-:

NOTE: Everything from this point is not part of Alyss's true story! It's just a "what-if" quick way to finish the story if I had wanted to finish it there.

:-*-:

When the jolt of hitting the ground did not come, Alyss opened her eyes. At first, it seemed like she was floating, but she soon realized this was not the case. The walls were zipping past her at a frightening rate, but the bottom was no where to be seen.

Alyss glanced around, curious, and gasped at what she saw. All manner of household junk, from tables, to chairs, to televisions were falling with her.

_What is this?_ Alyss thought as a tea set slowly fell past her. Alyss glanced around to see if she recognized anything, and who should she see but Mr. Rabbit!

He was holding his pocket watch and grumbling to himself. Unexpectedly, the Rabbit looked over at Alyss.

"Well," he said, aren't you moving a bit slow? We're running late after all." Mr. Rabbit closed the watch and replaced it in his pocket. Then hee crossed his arms and suddenly disapeared.

_Is this the Wonderland that Mr. Rabbit spoke of? _Alyss considered in a moment of happiness.

Those were the last words she ever thought.

:-*-:

When Alyss did not return for lunch later in the day, her Mother was not worried.

"She's out there somewhere, probably off reading her book," she said to Alyss's grandparents when they asked.

However, when Alyss did not return for dinner, her Mother became worried. She sent her husband out to look, but he returned empty handed.

Alyss's Mother began to panic. Soon enough the entire family was out looking for the missing girl, and some distant neighbors were called in to assist.

It was not until Alyss's brother, Alex, in a moment of inspiration, went to check the old oak that the body was discovered.

It was lying on the edge of a hole, as if it had been haphazardly thrown out, like a piece of unwanted garbage. Dried blood covered Alyss's cracked open skull, but she, looked peaceful, as if she was sleeping, and a blissful smile graced her face.

As Alex screamed for someone to come help poor, dead Alyss, a pair of beady glass eyes stared out of the rabbit hole, savoring his victory, before retreating. The hole disappeared along with the White Rabbit, and no one believed Alex when he said that it had been there.

:-*-:

I know for a fact that I did give my little brother a nightmare when I had him read it for editing purposes._ He he! _

The next chapter will pick up from after Alyss slips into the rabbit hole. Hope you enjoyed it!

-Dimidium Draco


	4. Welcome to Wonderland, Alyss

Ok, I know it's been a while, but I was totally stuck. * Mutters * stupid writers block... Anyway, I did some more research on _Alice of Human Sacrifice _and I got my new idea! I also want to thank **tradgedymaster01, ****fuzzy-vamp-bunnay, **and** soulreaperforlife**forreviewing! Encouragement is awesome! So, I need at least 2 new reviews before I update again.

Also, I forgot this last chapter, so let me do it now.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Alice of Human Sacrifice.

Now, onto the story!

:-*-:

When Alice awoke, she was alone. She was lying in a green field, staring up at the sky. Blindingly white, fluffy clouds- Practically cotton- lazily drifted across her field of vision. Tall green grass reached high, blocking out the edges of the clear blue sky.

Still half-asleep, Alyss didn't feel like moving. _It's so peaceful here,_ she thought. _I could stay here forever and not have to worry about stupid parents, or grandparents, or moving, or weird white rabbits in waist co-_

Alyss suddenly sat straight up, throwing off the remnants of sleep. _Is this Wonderland? _she thought. _I swear that I fell down a rabbit hole, but there isn't supposed to be sky underground. _

Alyss stopped and thought for a second. _Well, wherever I am, I need to find someone who actually knows. _Alyss slowly stood up, and then gasped. She was surrounded on three sides by a field of green grass that seemed to stretch on forever. To her left there was some kind of village in the distance.

"W-where am I?" Alyss muttered, shell-shocked. She stared for a few more minutes, despairing at the fact that she had no clue where she was, before managing to snap her self out of the depression. _Well, better get moving._

:-*-:

Alyss finally arrived at the village after walking for what seemed (to her) like hours. As she walked between the thatch houses on the dirt streets, she was in shock. Children were out and about, playing everywhere, but that wasn't what shocked Alyss. It was that most of the children weren't human. Even as she watched, Alyss saw a boy run by, giggling, while being chased by an animal, the size of the boy, that looked suspiciously like a lizard (if lizards ran on their hind legs).

As soon as Alyss was able to rip her eyes away from the lizard-boy, she noticed other creatures acting like humans. Gryphons stood on their hind legs and chatted with one another under the afternoon sun. Mice were scurrying around on all fours, then halting and transferring their weight so that, they too, could stand similar to humans.

"Are you lost?" a voice came from behind Alyss. She spun around, surprised, if not a bit jumpy. There stood a woman, about twenty-five years of age. Her brown hair was covered in part by a kerchief, and her simple dress immediately marked her as a villager.

"Oh thank God, another human!" Alyss started blubbering, finally broken down by all the strangeness she saw around her. "I was afraid that I was alone here, 'cause I don't know where I am or how I got here," Alyss gestured wildly as she spoke. "It's just there was a rabbit in a waistcoat and-"

"Whoa, calm down girly," the woman laughed. "You must not be from around here. Wonderland-" Suddenly the woman froze, staring at Alyss's right hand, which was still in the air with the palm facing Alyss.

"So this is Wonderland, right?" Alyss asked, not picking up on the woman's shock. "How did I end up here?"

"Y-you're the S-spade, aren't you?" The woman stuttered fearfully, hate and fear evident in her glare.

Clueless, Alyss answered "I'm not sure what you mean. What's the Spade? I just suddenly showed up here and-"

"Don't lie to me!" The woman snapped harshly, backing away slowly. "I know why you're here, and no one will believe you! Just leave this village alone!" She suddenly turned and ran to a nearby boy, picked him up, and ran into her house, screaming "the Spade is here!" all the way.

As soon as the "Spade" was mentioned, screams began echoing around the village. Parents- human and animal alike- grabbed their children and ran into their houses, slamming doors shut with such force that their houses shook.

Alyss noticed a boy that had tripped and fallen in the middle of the square. He was silent for a second, before he broke down into tears. Alyss, moved with pity for the small boy, began walking towards him with every intention of helping the poor boy to his feet.

When Alyss reached the boy, she knelt down and spoke to him. "Are you okay? I'm not here to hurt you."

The boy sniffled, his river of tears finally beginning to slow. "I can't talk to you," he whimpered.

"Why not?" Alyss questioned, honestly unsure of why everyone was running way from her, seemingly scared for their lives. Glanced at her hand and examined the symbol there.

It was a spade, like there would be on a suit in a deck of cards, except it was blood red. It sat on the back of Alyss's right hand, in stark contrast to her pale skin.

" 'Cause Mommy always said that if we weren't good the Spade would come and take me away," the boy stated simply, completely forgetting his earlier panic.

"Gregory! Get away from her!" a scared and angered voice came from Alyss's left. There stood a mob of men, obviously farmers, that held all forms of weapons, ranging from pitchforks to swords, but they all had scared looks on their faces, but they were hiding them well.

Standing in front of the mob was a woman but she was obviously scared, although it wasn't for herself. Her eyes were darting back and forth between the boy on the ground, who was obviously her son, and Alyss.

"Gregory, please come here," the woman called out again.

Alyss stood from her kneeling position, and began to slowly back away from the boy. "I didn't mean anything, I swear! I didn't do anything, so why are you afraid of me?" She kept backing away from the mob that had started coming closer once Alyss began backing away.

As soon as Alyss reached about twenty feet away from the boy, who had started crying again at the sight of all the weapons, his mother dashed forward and picked him up, holding him tightly.

"Be gone from this place Spade! We know your tricks! You will not take any of our children!" one of the men from the mob called out.

"I don't want any trouble! I just want to know what's going on!" Alyss blubbered, desperately hoping some one would believe her. Her prayers were not answered.

"Get lost, Spade!" one of the men from the mob, a boy actually, no more than thirteen years of age, dashed forward with his sword and managed to carve a shallow slice just below Alyss's left shoulder before retreating fearfully back into the mob.

At first, Alyss hadn't even realized that she had been cut, but then the pain hit her and the tears started silently streaming down her cheeks. "Please..." she begged. "Leave me alone..."

"The Spade isn't so tough after all!" A voice came from the mob and was answered with a resounding, "yeah!" and, "let's get 'er!"

As Alyss saw the mob break into sprints, coming after her with everything ranging from pitchforks to kitchen knives to full-blown swords, she broke down, turned and ran. To where, she didn't know. All she cared was that she was getting away from the murderous villagers.

:-*-:

The White Rabbit grinned as he saw Alyss run from the villagers. At first, he hadn't been sure if he was strong enough to influence the villagers' thoughts and turn them into twisted versions of themselves and have them do things they normally wouldn't do.

He grinned again, a twisted mockery of joy. It had certainly helped that this area of Wonderland had a a story that involved children being taken from their homes by a woman with a spade carved upon her body. Nowadays it was used to scare the children into behaving, but it provided the push the Rabbit needed to take control of the villagers thoughts, even the slight belief that the story could have been true.

He grinned again. How he _loved _manipulation, and it was always made easier by hate and fear.

He frowned suddenly, disturbed from his vicious thoughts by the absence of Alyss. The villagers were jeering at her retreating form as she ran off towards the forest. He hopped off, following her, in order to complete the second part of his revenge against Alice.

_Keep running, Alice. Just when you think you've found safety will you _

_discover just how painful trust is._

_:-*-:_

SORRY! I know this is cutting it really close to the, "I'll update sometime this weekend" deadline, but it is still Sunday, so no complaints. Anyway, updates will be a little delayed from now on. The end of the school year is coming and teachers are piling stuff on because they just realized how little time we have until finals begin.

The next update will probably be some time towards the end of May. Until then, keep those reviews coming! They encourage me to work faster! Sorry for any spelling mistakes! I didn't have the time to self-edit because I was busy this weekend. Thanks!

-Dimidium Draco


	5. A Weapon of Murder for Alyss

Yeah! Finals are over, school's out, life is (somewhat)good! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this out! I was studying most of the time over the past two weeks and every time I tried to work on this story, I would start seeing random Spanish words flash in front of my eyes (only slightly exaggerating).

Also, just as I was about to get truly serious on this story, I caught one hell of a fever. So, for the past couple days I've been sleeping, feeling like crap. Luckily, it's been down-graded to a simple cold (even though I still feel like crap, I don't have a fever!)

Back to the chapter, special thanks to **tragedymaster01**, **Maddigan** **Hatter**, and **NerdiGirl** for reviewing!

Reviews always make my day, so keep them coming!

Anyway, I think I'm rambling. What do you think? Yeah, I though so. On To The Story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Alice of Human Sacrifice.

:-*-:

Alyss kept running. She had been running for a while now, afraid to stop and check to see if the villagers were still chasing her.

Suddenly Alyss stumbled and fell to her knees, scraping them on the ground, before regaining her footing and continuing onward. A sob burst out, but was then repressed by Alyss, who wanted to save her breath for running.

After a few minutes, (but seemed much longer,) Alyss came to the edge of a forest. Out of breath, she took a risk and stopped, leaning up against a tree to catch her breath. She glanced back to see if she was still being chased, even though the villagers had stopped a while back.

Alyss gave a sigh of relief and sank to the ground once she saw she was alone. Unfortunately, as she was sliding down the trunk of the tree, her arm lightly brushed the rough bark, and she hissed.

Alyss finally took a look at the slash across her arm and what she saw freaked her out.

It was about a half-inch deep and nearly two inches long. The cut itself looked almost like a ravine that had been forcefully carved into her skin. It was a clean slash, no jagged edges, and while the blood was flowing like a river, it was only coming out of one corner. But boy, did it hurt like hell!

_I just wanna go home,_ Alyss thought to herself.

"Are you quite alright, my dear Alice?" a voice came from next to a tree that sat to Alyss's left.

When Alyss turned and looked, there stood the White Rabbit, looking at her arm with pity and...

_Is that satisfaction in his eyes?_ Alyss pondered as the White Rabbit hopped towards her. He stopped just short of her arm and stood on his tippy-toes so he could she the cut.

"I apologize for this, I really do feel as if it is my fault," the Rabbit continued as he pulled a white bandage wrap from somewhere in his coat and began wrapping it around Alyss's arm.

_No, it can't be satisfaction. He's helping bandage me up, _Alyss thought as the Rabbit continued to chatter as he bandaged her up.

"Why is it your fault?" Alyss asked suddenly. The Rabbit paused in his wrapping and was silent. Finally, he spoke.

"I wasn't here for you when you entered Wonderland. I had some business to attend to, and I thought you could wait. For that, I apologize."

_It couldn't of been satisfaction..._

"It's okay," Alyss said happily. The Rabbit looked at her. "If you really didn't mean for this to happen, than you're fine with me!" Alyss grinned, looking away from the Rabbit for just a moment, so she didn't see the look of relief that passed over his features.

"But I have a few questions for you," Alyss continued, turning back to the Rabbit. "What is this.. this **Spade **on my hand?"

The rabbit sat back on his haunches and sighed. "I'm not really sure myself. I think it may be what marks those who aren't from Wonderland, but still exist here."

"But that still doesn't explain what happened with the villagers!" Alyss exclaimed. The Rabbit's whiskers twitched in irritation, but Alyss passed it off as regular rabbit activities.

"It's unfortunate, but I have no idea as to why those villagers attacked you. And that brings me to my next subject," the Rabbit said as he gestured for Alyss to follow him and hopped off.

Alyss wobbly stood, placing a hand against the tree next to her for support, then hissed in pain as this put stress on her now bandaged wound. As soon as her head stopped spinning from the pain, Alyss set off to chase after the Rabbit who was rapidly disappearing into the forest.

:-*-:

"Where are we going?" Alyss asked the Rabbit for what seemed like the hundredth time.

The Rabbit just looked over his shoulder and chuckled. "You'll see, my dear Alyss, just be patient for me."

Alyss huffed in protest, but continued to follow the White Rabbit.

Soon enough, the Rabbit halted at the edge of a clearing, but Alyss – who was caught up in her own thoughts – nearly tripped over him.

"Hey!" Alyss exclaimed. "Watch where you're–" Suddenly Alyss caught sight of a gnarled tree stump in the center of the clearing and was silenced. However, the stump itself was not what silenced her.

Lying on the twisted stump was a sword encased in a sheath of plain brown leather that somehow sparkled in the light.

Alyss quietly walked over to it, stared for a moment, then picked up the sheath and sword. It was lighter than she would expect, for a hunk of metal.

Carefully – as if she had done it her whole life – Alyss grabbed the wire-wrapped hilt and drew the sword. As it slid from the sheath, it gave a low hiss of polished metal sliding on oiled leather, but that was it. Otherwise, it was silent.

Once she had drawn the sword, Alyss got to examining it. The hilt was made of what seemed to be gold, with rubies set in the crossguard and a particularly large ruby set into the pommel. The grip was wrapped in silver wire that shone in the bright sunlight.

Her eyes moved down down to the blade and she gasped. There really was nothing special about the blade, but it was still a work of art. It started out like a regular straight sword, but then the blade widened, then narrowed again in to a point (AN: Like Frodo's sword in Lord of the Rings!).

As Alyss was intently studying the wicked-looking sword, the Rabbit walked up behind her "So how do you like it?"

Alyss spun around, surprised – and a little frightened – by the Rabbit's silent approach. "What do you mean? I don't want this thing!" she said, quickly sliding the beautiful sword back into its rather plain sheath and placing it back on the stump before turning to face to Rabbit. "Yeah, it's beautiful and everything, but its a weapon of murder!"

The Rabbit took a step closer. Unconsciously, Alyss took a step back, closer to the stump. "I believe you are mistaken, Alice," the Rabbit said calmly. "A sword can also be used to protect, and I want this one to protect you."

Alyss blanched at this. "What do you mean, 'protect me'? Aren't you going to stay with me!"

The Rabbit shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately not. If you are to return you to your world, then there is some work that I must take care of. In the mean time, I am going to send you to the next village over to the north, since I don't know – "

"No!" Alyss cried out. " I don't want to go to another village here! In the last village I was attacked!"

The Rabbit responded, "Oh you poor dear, I had no idea! But, I hold on to my idea. The last village was a fluke, I honestly don't believe that it will happen again. Actually, I can assure it. But just in case, take the sword. I will return to you as soon as possible."

Alyss turned back to face to stump, and took the sheath into her hand, stroking it, before wrapping the sword belt around her waist. "Are you sure that if I go to the next village, you'll come get me?"

Silence.

"Rabbit?" Alyss called, turning around to face where to Rabbit had been, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, vexed with the slippery knave. _He said to the north, right? _She thought turning to the north. W_ell then, I better wait where he told me, since I want to go home as soon as possible. _Alyss shook her head, smiling slightly. _I never thought I'd be eager to go back to Grandma's and Grandpa's farm._

Alyss took her first step to the north, and into a carefully planned trap.

:-*-:

The Rabbit watched Alyss leave to forest with the sword strapped to her waist, and he grinned. _She won't last the day. _

Alyss finally disappeared over the horizon, and the White Rabbit's grin grew even wider. _Time to gather some friends... _He spun on his heel and headed back into the woods. As he did, the shadows almost seemed to reach out to his retreating form, creating images of twisted, humanoid creatures, ready to do their Master's bidding.

:-*-:

(READ ALL OF THE AUTHOR NOTE! ITS REALLY IMPORTANT!)

I'M SO SORRY! This is really late, and I apologize profusely! Actually, this gives me the perfect opportunity to give everyone a warning. I am a professional procrastinator. If I give a deadline, then expect it a few days later. I try REALLY hard to stick to my deadlines, but it doesn't always happen.

Another thing, I have a poll on my profile on how the White Rabbit is going to kill the second alice. Please look at it and vote.

Also, I need a name for the second Alice! I have a name in reserve, in case I don't get any responses to my plea. Please leave a review/ PM with a male name that rhymes with Alice.

Thanks for reading! It's greatly appreciated!


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